Beginnings
by Alice E. Dodgson
Summary: Two shorts about beginnings for syfy Alice: When Hatter was a boy and when the character from my other story "Turning the Tables" met him.
1. The Mad Boy

**I know I should be writing Turning the Tables, but I've had these in my head for months! Please read! Please review! I'm working on getting the next chapter of Turning the Tables up as fast as I can!**

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The Mad Boy:

I watched with terrified eyes as the prisoners were led into the courtyard.

No one knew the prisoners had a son, and that was a secret that needed to be kept. It would be easily kept, too. They weren't important enough to have last names, and no one would remember their faces to recognize me.

As the sentence was read, a tear ran down my face.

My friend looked at me and squeezed my hand. Marchy was only a year older than me, but he had seen _his_ mother and father executed as well, and knew the pain.

"Are you sure you want to watch?" he said, "We can go."

"No," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes, "No, I-I'm fine."

I remembered when my father had come home (or what was once home), and hurried me and my mother to the small escape tunnel at the back of our house before he gave us the news that the queen had discovered there allegiance to the resistance and were coming.

The memory filled my mind:

"_There coming?" my mother repeated, "How did they find out?" _

"_I have no idea! But that doesn't matter!" my father said then he tutned to me. "Son, you need to get out of here! Go find your friend Marchy and see if you can stay with him for awhile. Never come back here and forget about me and your mother"_

"_But-"_

"_No, son! That's an order!" my father knelt down and looked me in the eyes, "Son, I know this is going to be hard. But you have to go! Never come back, and as soon as you are away from this house, I want you to forget _everything_! Forget about me, forget about your mother, forget about this house. All I want you to remember is your name, your friend Marchy and that the Queen is wrong! Never stop fighting her but don't be reckless. Fight her in secret."_

"_Husband," my mother said, "I-I can see the Scarab!"_

_My father hugged me and kissed the top of my head. "Go, my son! Live, fight, and love, but promises me you will remain safe!"_

"_I promise." I said._

"_Good boy." My father took off his hat and placed it on my head. I started crying and my mother embraced me. "I wish you all the luck in the world!" she said tears running down her face as well._

"_Run away and don't look back!" my mother said, "Go, my son!"_

_I turned and ran out the tunnel. I ran, and ran, and ran, until I reached the end of the tunnel. Then I just kept running until I found Marchy. I told him what had happened and he told me what would happen next and I said I wanted to see it._

I wiped my eyes again. Tears wouldn't help me, and they would most certainly not help my parents.

Then I heard it. It was part of my father's sentence: "…beheaded for crimes against Wonderland!"

"What?" I whispered, "'_Crimes'_?" I stood up. The bush we were hiding behind was just big enough to hide me at my full height. "I've seen enough." I said.

Marchy looked at me, suppressed. "What is it?" he asked, "I mean, obviously you're upset about you family but, that's not it is it?"

"They were _saving _Wonderland!" I said, "Come on, let's go."

"Where?" Marchy asked. He had to duck a little bit so he wouldn't be seen.

"The resistance." I said, determined. "I'm joining now!"

"There not going to let you in!" Marchy said, "I've tried! We're too young!"

"Just because I'm 12 doesn't mean I can't help!" I said, "I'm going and you can come if you want!"

I turned to go and felt his head on my shoulder. "Alright! Alright!" he said, "Maybe they'll let us steel for them. That way _you_ won't feel guilty."

I smiled then place my fathers brown top hat that was much too big for me on my head. "Brilliant!" I said.

He sighed a bit. "You're still as mad as a box of frogs." He said.

I chuckled. "The mad boy." I said, jokingly, "Mad Hatter."

Now, 15 years later, I stared at my father's hat and remembered the promise I made to him. _"Promise me you will remain safe!" _he'd said, and I'd said that I would. I looked at Ratty. If I helped this oyster girl he was talking about, that wouldn't exactly be remaining safe… but then again nether was helping the resistance. I'd broken my promise years ago when I joined. No, I'd broken it by watching my parents die. That thought brought back that same anger I'd felt so many years ago. This Alice girl was an oyster, that meant the queen would be after her, and if the queen wanted her…

I put the hat on my head. "Bring her in." I said. Ratty excitedly left the room and I spun in my chair to look out the window. The queen had killed my parents then taken my best friend away. If the queen wanted this Alice girl, I would do all in my power to keep her away.

…

**Please review!**


	2. Forever Begins

**Just an FYI this is about the character in my other story meeting Hatter.**

…

Forever begins.

I watched the boys from my hiding spot just around the corner. They were talking to a man on the other side of the door, and both of them were carrying big bags of food. _That_ was what I was here for, the food. The man opened the door and let the two boys in, only taking one of the two bags.

I looked around. No one was there, so I quickly approached the bag of food that had been left. I used my sharp finger nails to tear it open and pulled out a small piece of cheese and quickly shoved it in my mouth. That should be enough for today, but what about tomorrow? I pulled out some more cheese and a piece of bread.

I felt a hand grip the back off my shirt and pull me of my feet. "Little thief!" the man said my legs dangled underneath me and fear filled my being as the man pulled out a gun.

"Duck!" came a voice from inside the building, "What are you doing?"

The man, Duck, turned and looked at the woman who'd spoken. "This thief was stealing from the food bags!"

"But why are you holding that gun to her head?" the woman asked.

"I just told you!" said Duck.

"But she's only a child!" said the woman, "She's just trying to stay alive. How much did you take, girl?"

My heart was beating in my throat. Was I getting away with this? I held out the small pace of bread and cheese. "And how much did you eat?" the woman asked.

"J-just a little b-bit of cheese. I'm n-not greedy. And i-if you let me go, I'll-I'll never c-come back!"

Duck and the woman looked at each other. "She's only a little girl." The woman said (I was beginning to really like her).

"You know the rules, Owl." Duck said, "Intruders are probably working for the Queen, and people who work for the Queen are enemies." He placed his finger on the trigger and my heart started pounding.

"Let's take her to Dodo!" said Owl, "Then we'll let him decide." Duck sighed but nodded and let me back on the ground though he didn't let go of my shirt. Owl took my hand and they led me through the door, into an elevator, and down a hall. The whole time I kept my eyes on the floor. The more I thought about this Dodo person the more my hope left me. From the little I knew about him (and a _very_ little it was) he didn't seem like the merciful kind.

I heard the sound of laughter up ahead. _They're lucky. _I thought, _They have joy in there lives. Something to laugh about. Look at me, nothing. I have nothing. Nothing to laugh at nothing to even smile about._

I looked up to see the two boys I'd stolen from (or tried to steal from). The one that was wearing a hat was looking at his friend and away from me, the other was looking right at me he said something to his friend and the boy looked at me.

A smile spread across my face when I saw him. He smiled at me and I felt the strangest feeling. It was like my heart had stopped beating and yet had started to beat even faster at the same time.

"Hey, Duck!" he said, "What's going on, here?"

"This little brat," Duck said giving me a smack that I barely noticed (I didn't even care that he'd insulted me), "was stealing from the food you brought us. So we're taking her to Dodo to see what to do with her."

The two boys looked at each other. Then the boy in the hat looked back at Duck. "You know," he said, "Now might not be the best time to talk to Dodo about a little girl's life. Me and Marchy have been… talking to him, and-"

"That doesn't mater, Hatter." Said Duck, "We're taking her to met Dodo and if he thinks she should die then-"

"Hold on," said Hatter (what a lovely name), "All she did was steal a little food. Look at her! She looks half starved."

"Rules are rules."

I looked up at Hatter and he looked at me. Then his friend, Marchy, spoke up. "You know, the reason you'd kill some one for stealing is so they won't come back and steal again."

"What's you're point?" Duck said.

"We could take care of her." He said. I looked at him, the smile on my face becoming more and more permanent.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah," Hatter laughed, "No punishment's worse then staying with us. Come on Duck! Dodo's ready to kill the next person that walks through that door. We can take her on and train her to work for the resistance."

"I don't-"

"And do you _really _want to be the next person Dodo talks to after we've been talking with him?"

Duck thought about it. Obviously, what I'd guessed about Dodo was right because Duck nodded and practically threw me at the two boys.

Hatter caught me and knelt down so he could talk to me. "Hello." He said, "What's your name?"

"Cheshire," I said smiling broadly. In that moment, nothing existed but me and him.

"How old are you, Cheshire?"

"4." I said.

"Really?" Hatter said, "4 years old and stealing. You must have quite the story to tell. But let's save that until we're all back at the apartment, yeah?"

"Ok, but can I tell you a secret?"

Hatter looked a little surprised. "Alright," he said.

I pulled on his shirt so that he'd bring his ear closer. "I have a last name."

Hatter whistled. "Wow, really?" he said, and I nodded. Then he turned to Marchy. "That's a first," he said, "Some one who actually trusts me with out me having to spend years telling them it's a good idea."

Marchy laughed at the joke and Hatter smiled looking back at me. "Well, Cheshire, I'm Hatter, the wonderful, the handsome the-"

"Stuck up," Marchy finished, "Over confident, conceded, stupid, cocky."

Hatter laughed. "And this is March," he said, standing up and putting an arm around his friend, "but we call him Marchy because he doesn't like it." Marchy rolled his eyes and I laughed for the first time in weeks.

"Come on now, Cheshire." Said Hatter, "Let's show you where you're going to live."

I smiled and hugged Marchy then Hatter, and we started to leave when Owl stopped us. "What are you doing, Hatter?" she asked, "You're honestly going to just take in this girl and take care of her?"

"Yep." He said smiling, "Why not?"

"You're 16!" she stated, "You're not old enough to take care of a child."

"I'm 16," Hatter said, "Marchy's 17. Put that together we're 33!" I noticed him become serious. "Marchy and I can take care of her. We're a lot less irresponsible than you think."

And with that, the three of us left, and I knew in my heart that I wanted to be with these two boys forever, but mostly Hatter. We talked on the way home and the more I talked to them the more I knew that I would never stop smiling. I'd smile forever, and forever begins now.

…

**Please review! I have some more ideas about Cheshire's life with Hatter and Marchy but I'll only write if you want me too. There's no point in writing if no one's going to read it!**


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